Review Summary

Nearly four and a half hours long, spanning more than a decade and reconstructing a pair of brutal insurgencies, “Che” surely deserves the overworked, frequently misapplied name of epic. Steven Soderbergh’s new film, a two-part portrait of the Argentine doctor-turned-international revolutionary Ernesto Guevara (it opens in limited release as one film on Friday and as two films early next year), plants itself squarely in an old tradition of martial poetry: it sings of arms and the man. But in chronicling the deeds of their hero — and the heroism of Ernesto Guevara is not something “Che” has any interest in questioning — Mr. Soderbergh and the screenwriter, Peter Buchman, restrict themselves to a narrow register of themes and effects. This is a very long song composed in about three notes. Its motifs are facial hair, tobacco smoke and earnest militant bombast.
— A. O. Scott